This easy vegetable broth is made entirely of leftovers from holiday meal prep! So, grab those celery leaves, those carrot tops, that kale no one eats before they go to the compost and extract all the nutrients you can.
What We Use In Our Vegetable Broth:
- any veggies that may have gotten a bit sad and wilty in the fridge
- carrot peels and small ends
- sweet potato peels and small ends
- celery ends and leaves
- onion and shallot skins
- green onion or leek ends
- mushroom stems
- small amounts of broccoli stems or kale stems
- slightly wilted greens
- essentially, lots of bits from your fridge.
Seasonings:
- fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, cilantro) – loaded with vitamins and minerals
- Herbs de Provence
- bay leaves (fresh 3-4, dried 2 per 8 cups stock)
- garlic
- ginger
- peppercorns
- shiitake mushrooms
- tumeric powder
- Add everything to your pot. Add water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for an hour or two.
- Turn off heat. Strain solids through a mesh sieve. Compost, or blend and add to soups and stews!
- Store in an airtight jar in the fridge for a week, or freeze in small portions for later use.
Other ingredients to consider:
Don’t quite have enough time or energy, freeze your vegetable scraps for later use. They will still taste fantastic!
- be sure to use clean, sterilized glass containers.
- vegetable broth is good for up to a week in the fridge.
- freeze in thick glass containers. I like to store in smaller portions (about 2-3 cups) to use as needed. Be sure to leave room for expansion so as not to crack the glass (we absolutely speak from experience).
- freeze in ice cube trays and store in large freezer bags